Wife, Homeschool Mom. Walking through season of raising children and witnessing a mother's journey with dementia…all about faith and hope and challenge

Reading and Conversation

I took the name of this Blog from one of my favorite books. Books have always, and will always, play an important part in my life. Lately I’ve been longing for that space to have conversations about what I’m reading…and as busy as life is, it is difficult to find the space and time to carve out those conversations. I have been for some time wanting to have a book club again. I have been part of a few, and have tried having some online, but they have all come and gone, so I’m looking for a different format. I have not done a book club since starting the blog…so, I thought it might be worth giving a try here.

Here’s the thought for the moment…stolen from a Reading Contest group on FB. We could start with simply listing what we’ve been reading. We’ll see if there is any overlap, and maybe in a month or so we’ll see if there might be a book we would want to read more or less as a group and have some conversation.

At this start, though, I’m hoping just to pull some of my friends in from various places. Everyone I sent an invitation to are people I would love to sit and talk with…and they represent a pretty wide spectrum of thought. We could have some fun with discussion! Everyone on the list, however, are able to carry on a conversation with respect.

So…lemme know what you think. More than anything it would be a page devoted to popping in and talking about what we are being moved by, challenged by, comforted by….what is impacting us through our reading.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into it, but am really enjoying it now…and at the same time just stunned every time I read about the Nazis. Never fails to amaze me. And yep, I know there are equally evil leaders that have existed, but the stories I have read have mostly come from this era.

I’m reading the Obamians (a book about the team of advisors in the White House) by James Mann (an LA Times reporter) and then another fiction book called “Stay Close” by Harlan Coben. Not sure what I think about that one yet.

Thanks for coming by, Valerie! I’ll let everyone know up front that I have a pretty broad spectrum of political friends, so we’ll have to be watchful of the political books (please post the…whatever you are reading, we’ll just be careful not to get too heated.).

Great idea, Sarah! Currently reading Second Half for the Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley, and Vertical Church by James MacDonald. Hopefully, I will soon begin reading an autobiography by Oskar Knoblauch, a Holocaust survivor and Phoenix, AZ resident whom I had the privilege of meeting last week.

On the Holocaust topic, I’ve been reading My Righteous Gentile by Gabriella Auspitz Labson, whom I have recently discovered as a distant relative of mine, She is 98 and very sharp. I love the book and not only because it talks about some of my ancestors.

I’m also finishing up Train In Winter (can’t remember the author at the moment)…another story about the Holocaust, but this one is from the point of view of some women in France. It is yet another story from that time that amazes…

I wonder as I read these what I would do in that situation. There is one story in it of all the women being held in a prison and one girl is turning 18, I think. The word is spread through the pipes that it is her birthday, and all the women sing to her through their windows.

There are several acts of “defiance” like this in the book. I wonder if I would be strong enough in that situation to act with joy in the midst of the terror.

Anna…how amazing to find a relative who is still so sharp! I’ll have to add that to my reading!

Kevin…so cool as well that you found someone who has a personal connection. Makes such a difference when you are able to connect the person and hear them speak.